


Merely a Matter of Time

by ravensnwritingdesks



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Fluff and Humor, Hectic Morning, Kissing, Neck Kissing, Oversleeping, Unguarded Words, failed dates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-28 18:13:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14454954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravensnwritingdesks/pseuds/ravensnwritingdesks
Summary: Tina Goldstein did not oversleep. She didnot. And yet, on this very morning she had managed to sleep through her alarm and would have happily kept on doing so if it hadn't been for her house guest.But who knew that a late night, a hectic morning and some words slipping past her carefully guarded lips could lead to such a pleasant outcome.





	Merely a Matter of Time

**Author's Note:**

> "Dammit, dammit, dammit!" she exclaimed, hurrying past Newt for the third time in five minutes while hastily trying to get ready for the day. "This is all your fault!"

"How so?" He pressed himself against the stove as Tina shoved past him for a fourth time that morning, now looking for her jacket.

Tina Goldstein did not oversleep. She did _not_. And yet, on this very morning she had managed to sleep through her alarm and would have happily kept on doing so if it hadn't been for her house guest. A tentative knock, followed by a more inquiring "Tina?" had startled her right out of her peaceful slumber… and into a frenzied version of her usual morning routine, when she finally noticed the time.

"There really needs to be something in your case to tell the time by!" she hissed at him while rummaging through the clothes horse.

It had been long past midnight when she had finally made her way up from that magical little world in a suitcase last night. _Long_ past midnight, causing her to miss precious hours of sleep.

Longingly, she eyed the small kitchen area as she finally slipped on a grey jacket. Coffee... that would be great right about now. Newt even seemed to prepare something (most likely) edible there, too, but her breakfast would have to wait until she got to the office today.

Where she should have clocked in ten minutes ago already.

"You're very welcome to make an addition to the spell work, if you'd like." Tina could actually hear the amused grin in his voice and shot him a glare.

"You bet I will." A huge clock face on the ceiling of the case... chiming midnight with the Westminster Quarters. That should do it to get her into bed on time.

"Here," Newt interrupted her her fifth passage through the flat, "I made you some coffee before you head out." Smiling, he offered her a cup of steaming dark liquid, giving off the unmistakable scent of imminent wakefulness.

"Oh, I could kiss you right now!" she exclaimed and eagerly took the peace offering, inhaling half of its contents on her way to find her shoes. Maybe, just maybe, she would make it to work before anyone noticed her absence. Wait – did she just say that?

"You’re welcome to do that, too."

The quiet, absent-minded voice stopped Tina in her tracks. She slowly turned back to stare at him in surprise, work suddenly quite forgotten. There was no way she had heard that correctly. Was there?

Newt still stood by the stove, now tense and unmoving over his steeping cup of tea, though. She noticed a blush creeping up his cheeks as he turned his head to glance at her surreptitiously.

"You... didn't mean to say that, did you?" she guessed and chuckled softly.

He cleared his throat, quickly bringing his focus back to the brewing cup before him as he shook his head. "No, I did not."

The small smile on her lips faltered and she turned back to finally put on her shoes. Of course he hadn't mean it like that… his mind had been somewhere else. Of course, Newt didn't want to kiss her. Why should he? Why would anyone? She really needed to stop getting her hopes up after all this time. And today of all days, she had other things to worry about.

"I really gotta go now," Tina quickly said as she marched towards the door to get ready for the cold April morning waiting behind those walls. "Thank you for the coffee."

She put on her blue Auror coat and dared to have another look at him. Newt was still rooted to the spot. He had pushed a hand into his hair, tugging nervously at a handful of curls at the nape of his neck as he kept on staring past his tea. By now, that beverage must be long over-steeped. Undrinkable even to him. He had to be deep in thought indeed to let that happen.

She was just about to leave the apartment when she heard him speak again. "Tina."

Hand on the door handle, she paused and after a moment of silence turned her attention back to the man who bewildered her so much. He, too, had finally moved to look at her and took a steadying breath before he continued.

"I didn't _intend_ to say it out loud, no, but... that doesn't change the truth of my words. You _are_ welcome to kiss me – very much." He swallowed and finally met her eyes. "If you'd like to, that is."

_If you'd like_... Tina watched him speechlessly for a moment, the beginnings of another smile tugging at her lips as the meaning of his words sunk in. Yes, she'd like to kiss him. And to be kissed by him in return. Very much so.

She had already taken an unconscious step towards him when her sluggish brain finally caught up with the rest of her. Now, in passing, was not the time to go there, no matter how much her heart sang at the thought alone. Just a little restraint, she could wait a few more hours. They could wait a few more hours.

Instead, she offered him a small but teasing smile. "I think you should take me out to dinner first, Mister Scamander."

“Excuse me?” Newt blinked and then frowned with confusion, clearly not having expected that reply. Or any reply, really, other than a door firmly shut in his face.

"Dinner?" she repeated a little softer. Then a better thought occurred to her. "Or lunch! A lunch date would work, too, for me."

"Oh!" He nodded slowly as understanding finally dawned, his blue-green eyes wide in surprise. "Yes. Uh. Lunch."

Tina watched a number of reassuring emotions passing over his face and decided to throw caution to the wind now, seeing as this man probably wouldn’t mind her seeming a little too eager.

"I usually take my lunch hour around 1pm?" Her words came out sounding more like a question than the statement she had intended them to be.

The corner of his lips twitched upward and into a small grin, one that he obviously had tried but failed to stifle. "And, uhm, would you mind if I came by around that time… to take you out for lunch, Miss Goldstein?"

She beamed at him, unable to quell her own smile any longer. "Not at all, Newt."

Tina finally left the apartment behind, a grin on her face… and a happy skip to her step.

* * *

She arrived at work more than half an hour after the usual time, earning her a reprimand from her supervising officer and a lecture on the importance of punctuality. But the promise of an actual _date_ with Newt was absolutely worth it.

Despite, or more likely _because of,_ her anticipated plans for lunch break, the morning dragged on endlessly, causing her smile to waver again. There were no new developments for any of the ongoing cases, leaving her with nothing but a ton of paperwork to be completed. And her lack of sleep didn’t help with that either. By the time 1pm, and with it one Magizoologist, finally arrived, she already felt as though she had spent an entire day slaving away at her desk.

But Newt’s soft “Hello” and a familiar lopsided smile were enough to bring her smile back and cure any fatigue she might have felt.

Newt was quiet as they rode the lift down into the lobby, thrumming with a sort of nervous energy she had never seen in him. Not even before his first talk in front of MACUSA employees, which had to say something.

“So, how was your morning?”

She didn’t mean to distract just _him_ from nerves. After years of friendship, sporadic visits and lots of uncertainty, she was finally going on a _date_ with Newt. All thanks to a few words that had slipped past carefully crafted filters in the hurry of a late morning.

“Not as productive as I had planned,” was the answer he seemed to settle on after a moment of thought. A smirk flitted across his face. “I was... a bit distracted.”

Tina couldn’t help the chuckle. “You and me both, then.” Never had she anticipated her lunch break more than today.

The date did not go as planned, though. The two of them had barely reached the small deli and settled on an order before her Auror badge began to nearly burn a hole into the pocket of her jacket.

“What is it?”

Tina stared at the offending piece of metal and huffed in disbelief as the colour changed from it’s usual blue. Of all the times it had to be now, of course.

“A red alert. They’re calling in all Aurors.” She looked up at him in apology and quickly gathered her hat and coat. “I’m so sorry, Newt, but I gotta go.”

“It’s okay. Go and do your job, Tina.” He nodded in acceptance and even managed a smile when waved her off. The way his face had fallen at the news did not go unnoticed by her, though.

But there was nothing she could do. “I’ll see you at home, Newt.”

His hand shot out to hold her back just as she tried to walk past him. “Tina. Be careful, please?”

She gave his hand squeeze and nodded. “I will.”

Badge firmly in her hand, she apparated from the deli’s empty side-alley straight into the Department of Aurors, where the a growing crowd in blue and brown was awaiting orders.

* * *

Much, much later that night, Tina came home to a dark and empty apartment. A flick of her wand brought the lights back to life, illuminating the rooms as she kicked her shoes off with a tired sigh. What a day.

Newt was home, she knew. His coat hung on the rack, right next to hers, and the battered suitcase still sat in a corner of the front room. The man wouldn’t go anywhere without either of them. And it was quite likely that he had spend the rest of his day holed up inside the case after their failed attempt of a date... in the comforting company of his creatures.

There was no answer when she knocked on the lid, but Tina knew better than to think him already asleep. Not at barely past 9pm. (Dozing over a couple of notes, on the other hand… that she had caught him do more than once.) Carefully, she opened the case and climbed inside.

The Magizoologist was working behind his shed, hand-weeding a small patch of vegetables and so lost to his occupation (and thoughts) that he didn’t even notice her approach.

“I see we're both working late today.” His gaze shot up immediately when she spoke, startled by her unexpected appearance.

"Tina!" The sudden tension left his shoulders again. “You’re back.”

She smiled in apology, not having failed to notice the way his hand had reflexively reached for his wand when startled. “Yes. And about time, too.”

Newt made his way out of the greens, wiping his hands clean as he gave her an assessing once-over. “Are you alright?”

She nodded, shrugging it off as he pointedly looked at the singed arm of her jacket. She really should have taken that off before coming here. “I’m fine, Newt. Grazed by a Stunner, nothing more.”

His jaw tightened, but he let it slide for now. “What happened, if you don’t mind my asking?”

Tina sighed. “We did a raid, a major one. Someone tipped us off about a ring of smugglers the MID has been after for months now. We had to act immediately, so every available Auror was called in.”

“A successful day, I assume?”

“Yeah.“ She grinned. “We caught the hole bunch of them red-handed, including the minds behind it all. Lots of statements had to be taken, evidence to be processed.“ She paused and scowled. ”The paperwork will probably take all of next week.”

Newt chuckled, reaching out to finger the hole singed into the fabric on her upper arm. “At least your jacket won’t fall victim to any cross-fire, though.”

They looked at each other, lost in the other’s gaze for a while as they tried to read the words that had been blatantly left unspoken.

“I’m so sorry about lunch.” Tina broke the silence that had fallen, still unable to tear her eyes from his.

“I know you had a job to do.“ He finally broke the eye-contact, looking away as a small smile appeared on his lips. “How about a dinner instead? I could put something together for us.”

“Thank you, but… I already had something at the office.” Another apologetic smile.

They had sent the new recruits on a food run, since there was no getting out on time for any of them. The sandwiches had been good, though nothing compared to the more exotic things Newt could _put together,_ if he set his mind to it.

“Oh, I see.” He obviously tried to, but the disappointment in his voice was not very well hidden. Absent-mindedly, he patted down his clothing before he fished a battered old fob watch out of his trouser pocket and glanced at it. His eyes went wide. "Merlin’s beard! I didn't even realise it was this late already!”

He awkwardly looked at her, now hiding his gaze behind that mop of hair again much to Tina’s disappointment. “I guess, time just flies when you’re…"

He left the sentence unfinished, but Tina had a good guess as to what the ending could be. Instead he shrugged and neatly turned on his heel, about to move back to his previous work. But she couldn’t let that happen.

That invitation obviously hadn’t been just about the food, and dorcus that she was, she had failed to see it. Her senses were less than sharp after a long day and too short night.

"I better take you up on your offer from this morning, then.” Her words stopped him in his tracks and he spun around surprise. “Time has been _flying by_ for far too long now.” She took a few steps after him. “And it looks like we would both profit from it… don’t you think?"

Strangely, Newt blushed heavily. A small grin had stolen itself onto his face now. "Well, yes. Er… At least I think so."

Happy to see his dejected expression gone, she closed the distance between them. "Okay then. D’you mind showing me how it’s done?"

A gasp. "You mean, you've never-"

"Well, obviously not." Grinning, she brandished her wand and pointed up at the darkening ceiling of the case. "I was thinking about a huge clock-face somewhere up there… Perhaps chiming the hour, unless that would upset your creatures."

"A… clock-face?" His brow furrowed in confusion.

"Yes. To tell the time?"

 "Oh." His face fell.

"Oh," she echoed. Heat rose to her cheeks when she realised where _his_ mind must have been. There had been more than one offer this morning… and the other one definitely had it’s appeal, too. Before she could say anything more, though, Newt seemed to have caught himself and nodded.

"Alright. Yes. Uhm.” He took a look around and pointed to her left and a small pile of random clutter. “Take that piece of flooring over there and transfigure it into the kind of clock you’d like up there."

It took her a little too long to react, but finally Tina smiled and turned. Transfiguration had been a favourite class of hers at Ilvermorny and the spells came easily. With a wave of her wand the leftover piece of wood turned into an old and slightly battered alarm clock, fitting in perfectly with the general charm and appearance of Newt’s magical suitcase world.

She could her him chuckle as he came up behind her. "That looks just like the one in my shed. Well then, move it up to the lid of the case.”

A swish and a flick and the clock started to float upwards. He was right behind her now, so close that she could feel his body heat seep through the layers of her clothing. A pleasant warmth, distracting but never touching her. She had managed to levitate the time piece about twenty feet above the ground when Newt’s arm slowly moved up and around her, gently guiding her wrist and helping her direct its flight.

"That’s it. Now, you should feel-"

His soft voice sounded next her ear as a firm chest now pressed against her back. His arm moulded against hers as work-roughened fingers gently circled around her wrist. A pleasant shudder went through her. She was effectively in Newt’s arms… a much more intimate embrace than they'd shared before... and suddenly that clock was the last thing on her mind.

Just half a turn and she could take him up on his second offer from this morning. Something he himself had been rather keen on not too long ago. A nervous tingle spread down her back at the thought. … _you are welcome to._ What would that be like? _  
_

"Tina?"

The question broke her out of her thoughts and, finally, she dared to take that half turn. She came face to face with Newt, his eyebrow raised in question. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

She chuckled softly. "I really need to get my priorities straight, don't I?"

Again, his brow knitted in confusion as she rested a hand on his shoulder. Before he had a chance to reply, though, Tina leaned in and pressed her lips to his in a kiss.

Newt breathed a quivering sigh as their lips brushed together, following them instinctively when she pulled back again to gauge his reaction. Dazed eyes slowly blinked open again, regarding her with an expression that held both joy and disbelief.

She smiled in response before eagerly moving in for more. This time, she got a chuckle out of him and his arms came up around her, one hand cradling the back of her neck as their kisses slowly deepened. It took a bit to sort out the right angles, her being far from an expert at this, but Newt was patient and a willing teacher.

Time had soon lost all of its meaning. They were lost in each other, discovering this thrilling new thing between them.

It was magical.

It was breathtaking.

It was well worth the long and uncertain wait.

A whine of disappointment followed him when his lips at last broke away from hers, pulling back to allow for a bit of air between them. Arms around his neck, she kept him close, though, and Newt breathed a chuckle as their foreheads rested together. His heartbeat nearly mirrored hers, she noticed, fast and strong in the wake of their activities. Slowly calming down again. Then he began to pepper her chin and jawline with gentle kisses and nothing else mattered anymore.

Tina hummed happily when he moved on to her neck for more of the same. His hand had slipped underneath her jacket, resting on her waist and squeezing gently. The other cradled her head as he kissed and nibbled just below her ear. It was a heavenly sensation, one that soon had her tingling all over.

The shrill ring of an alarm clock broke them apart.

He chuckled into her shoulder and Tina, startled out of her bliss, turned her head to locate the source of the annoying disturbance. Her earlier work of transfiguration, still floating just behind her back. She huffed a breath and watched as Newt nimbly disabled the alarm without letting her go.

Face flushed and with kiss-swollen lips, Newt smirked at her. “Do you still think it’s a good idea to put up an alarm in here?”

Chuckling, Tina shook her head and closed her eyes to try and calm her breathing. She concentrate for a moment, focussing on what she had created, and the spells came to her easily. A piece of old wood clattered to the ground behind them, causing Newt to whistle, impressed by her display of wandless magic.

She pulled him close again and gave him a smile. “Now please shut up and kiss me some more."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading! Let me know what you think, your comments and kudos will be very much appreciated.  
> If you are interested in getting a notification for any new story I post, you can subscribe to my [AO3 profile](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ravensnwritingdesks/pseuds/ravensnwritingdesks).  
> You can also follow my tumblr [@ravens-and-writings](https://ravens-and-writings.tumblr.com/) for updates, previews and other fun stuff about Newtina, Fantastic Beasts and the Potterverse in general.  
> 


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